Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Jo Sooyeon’s unique ability was healing. Because of that, she naturally took a position in the back during battle. The only time she would run forward was when her party members got hurt while fighting. Her healing properties could suture most wounds in an instant. It was a powerful ability, but it didn’t really help her in battle. As for the additional effects, it’s just quick healing and long-distance healing.

Thanks to that, Sooyeon’s level was only 19, which was the lowest along with her party members Jung Jiman. The highest level amongst the party was unexpectedly Mikyung. But it was only possible due to her unique ability which was suitable for battle. Her ability to change position could change the course of the battle in an instant.

Although Sooyeon wasn’t happy with her low level, she was still satisfied with her situation. After all, being a healer was surprisingly fun.

She had always told people this,

“Sometimes, I also want to be active in a battle, but I still feel rewarded when I heal others. Everyone thanked me. They said that they lived thanks to my healing.”

The kind-hearted ex-doctor and current healer, Jo Sooyeon. The Government Shelter was always reluctant to let her go outside, saying they could not lose such precious resources. Because of that, Sooyeon had to spend the majority of her time in the shelter. However, she wouldn’t just sit around and do nothing. On the contrary, she had a lot of work to do like treating sick personnel and healing those who come back from the hunt injured. However, those tasks couldn’t alleviate her boredom at all. Her level stagnation was also making her a bit impatient.

It was Seongho who brought Sooyeon out of her mundane life. He was the person who thought that everyone should have more than a certain level of combat power.

-Sooyeon is no exception to that. At least you should be able to protect yourself.

Seongho emphasized that it was not enough to just level up. She must also constantly accumulate combat experience. Lee Beom-seok was reluctant to let her go, but he couldn’t stop Seongho from taking her out. Thus, Sooyeon and Seongho went out hunting alone. For some reason, Sooyeon was excited by that. Her heart was racing.

‘Now that I think about it, an amazing person is driving the bus.’ There were many people who did not know the name Kang Seongho, but there’s no one who did not know the name I Love Gimbap. If they didn’t know the name, it was certain that they were people who were in the dark about the current world or a foreigner.

I Love Gimbap was the strongest stagnant water and the leader of the other stagnant waters. But for Sooyeon, both names only made her remember the chubby snack bar guy. She wondered just when did he change like this?

“It was said that people change when the opportunity comes…”

The man in question was currently busy attaching a long knife with a scabbard to Sooyeon’s waist.

“Even a healer must attack directly if the situation called for it. Though, it will be ideal if such a situation never occurs.”

“This is expensive.” Sooyeon’s said bitterly. 300 points was too much for her who rarely had a chance to accumulate points.

Seongho smiled softly and whispered into her ear. “Actually, I have a lot of such swords looted from other people.”

‘Looted…’ Sooyeon remembered that the man in front of her had killed many people. According to the people at the Auction House, close to 20 people died in the wetland labyrinth alone, and the number of people who died directly or indirectly at his hands were several times that number. But, she was not afraid of him at all. Perhaps it’s because of his personality where he always treated those who were close to him well. As long as they didn’t cross the line, he wouldn’t get angry. Sooyeon believed so.*

“If even a long knife doesn’t work, you have to run away. The best way to run away is to run to high places. After all, some monsters will not be able to reach you.” Seongho showed a demonstration of climbing up to the 4th floor of a one-room building using a rope attached to a metal hook he threw to the top. Like a good student, Sooyeon worked hard to imitate his actions. After they both reached the top, the two looked at the building across.

“Sooyeon-ssi, you can only use this while you are with me. When I call you and tell you to run, just run.”

“M-me? Here?” The distance to the building on the other side was more than 15m, at the shortest. She knew that Seongho had the dimension wall as an additional effect, but the thought of falling still made her hands sweat.

Seongho took her hand and led her into the air.

“Don’t worry, there’s a dimensional wall under our feet. You can think of it as an invisible floor.”

“O-oh my god…” Sooyeon floated in the air on top of the invisible floor. The dizziness from the fear of falling overtook her.

Seongho gently pulled her arm. “Just pretend you don’t know and take a step forward.”

“Wai-wait a minute… Mommy!!!”

Without realizing it, she jumped into the air and crossed over to the roof of another building. After that, Seongho continued to help her. In short, it was power-leveling. Thanks to that, Sooyeon was able to reach level 20 in less than half a day. Once they finished, the two occupied a suitable building, ate and talked about the additional effects she got.

“It was something called ability enhancement…”

“I have no idea what kind of ability it is, just try it.”

“Would you mind giving me your arm for a moment?”

Sooyeon put her hand on Seongho’s arm once he nodded in agreement. When she touched his thick forearm, her heart started to pound.

‘Seems like I still can’t move on…’ She said to herself. Back when she found out that he was dating Da-jeong, she gave up… at least that’s what she thought.

“Sooyeon?”

“Yes? Oh, I’m sorry.” Afraid that she would let him know about her true feelings, she quickly placed her hand on his arm and used her powers. A golden light different from the usual golden light when she was healing others was emitted.

Seongho was quite startled and touched her arm.

“This is amazing. My stats were buffed.”

When I said it had become 1.2 times stronger, she covered her mouth with her hand.

“Your stats increased by 1.2 times?”

If it strengthened others without any side effects it could be said that her skill was close to a scam.

“If I activate more skills on top of this skill…. Wait a minute.”

Seongho stretched his body and jumped to the street below. The orc’s cries were heard afterwards, and after a while he came back up with blood on his fists. Seongho blinked and his red eyes returned to normal.

“It’s a really great ability, but can you check whether you can cast it to multiple people or not?”

“Uh… that’s not possible.” Sooyeon answered.

Seongho nodded and opened his mouth again. “Let’s test how much time we have next.”

The two started eating again. The main menu was swordfish. And in the conversation, Sooyeon confessed that she had refused Geom-in advance.

“The age difference between us is too much for my liking. That’s even after putting aside things like disposition and personality.”

Seongho smiled bitterly at her words. He didn’t know whether he should be happy or sad about it. After all, a former doctor and a former gamer was a strange combination. But Geom-in was still his friend. He hoped he wouldn’t fall into a pit of despair.

Sooyeon put her bowl down and continued. “He also always called me Noona. So it was a bit hard for me to see him as a man.”

And from what Seongho knows, the kid always talks about games day and night.

“Come to think of it, you’re older than me, so should I call you noona too?” Seongho asked her.

Sooyeon opened her eyes wide and she hurriedly waved her hand at the question. “No, no. I’m fine with what you call me now.”

It would be burdensome for her to hear Seongho, who was so huge, calling her noona. But when she thought about it from a different angle, she thought that it would please her ears and heart.

Seongho finished his cleanup and brought a coffee from the portal. The two drank the coffee while looking at the devastated landscape stretch in front of them. A group of goblins, including a hobgoblin, hid in an alley to avoid some orcs. It’s been a while since they appeared, but a lot of people ignored them. After all, once they were hit by a paralyzing dart, no matter how strong they were, they wouldn’t be able to do anything.

Sooyeon asked while watching the battle between monsters.

“How long do we have to live like this?”

“World will keep being like this. Strong monsters will keep appearing without end.”

“Looks like no matter how hard we try, we can’t get out of the apocalypse.”

“We just need to work hard to keep surviving. If there’s one thing I’m sure about, it’s the fact that we will live much more comfortably than others.” Seongho said. It wasn’t his arrogance or anything but simply a fact. Afterall, they had his dimensional gate.

Sooyeon rested her head on Seongho’s shoulder without realizing it. She wondered where she could ever find someone so reliable again.

‘In the end, I should have been courageous back then…’ After Seongho and herself cleared the death match against a murderer in Busan, he had stayed at her villa briefly. If she had had the courage back then, Seongho would have become hers now, not Da-jeong’s. Though, since it was Da-jeong, there’s a possibility that she would only ignore her advances and push herself to go further. At that moment, Sooyeon remembered Da-jeong’s offer, making her face beet red.

‘How could she say something like 3P…’

While she was in agony and channeled all of her embarrassment to the innocent paper cup, Seongho was browsing through the Auction House. He then opened his mouth, snapping Sooyeon back to reality.

“Do you know Kim Ho-je, the second son of the Jeil Group?”

“…I know. He’s been on the news a lot. In a bad way.”

“I don’t watch TV a lot, so…” Seongho asked her to give him a brief summary about the guy.

“Since back when he was still a student in an overseas college, he had problems with drugs and women. I remember he was arrested for bringing drugs into Korea.”

“He’s not an ordinary person, huh?”

“He had caused a lot of accidents. There’s also news regarding him hiring gangsters to beat up a certain staff of a hair salon just because he didn’t like the way she treated him.”

“His father must have spent a lot of money.”

“If that was all, it wouldn’t have been a problem. He was sent to the Jeil group US branch to calm himself down. But on the way, he touched the butt of a stewardess and got banned from entering the country. It’s completely crazy.”

“Now that motherfucker has come to the shelter. Let’s go meet him.”

“Yes?”

In Sooyeon’s head, a picture of Seongho beating Kim Ho-je was drawn.

Just what kind of courage did he have to decide to come to the Government Shelter?

.

.

.

“Let me tell you once again in case you forget. Never. Use. Violence.”

“Okay.”

I replied roughly and opened the door. Inside the room, Jang won-taek was sitting across a man and a woman.

The man, Kim Ho-je, was so thin to the point even anchovy would call him brother. His thick clothes couldn’t hide his neck and cheekbones.

Is he wearing sunglasses to hide his expression?

All in all, he’s uselessly flashy.

The woman sitting next to him looked better than Kim Ho-je. She was draped in a black body armor and had a well-groomed bob hair cut. Her eyes which looked at me made me feel that she’s a stubborn kind of woman. No matter how I look at it, she’s not under a brainwashing effect.

As I stood still on the door, Jang Won-taek opened his mouth. “Sit down. There are people who want to join our shelter. I want you to talk to them too.” Jang won-taek then moved his head towards the pair. “This is Seongho. If you can’t recognize him, he’s more well known as I Love Gimbap.”

“Ah…”

Unlike the woman who only showed a hint of surprise for a brief moment, Kim Ho-je quickly lowered his sunglasses all the way to his nose and made a fuss.

“Wow, I Love Gimbap! A very strong person has graced us with his presence! Nice to meet you, nice to meet you.”

Eventually he came to me and held out his glove-covered hand.

What in the world is this guy doing?

I clenched my fist and the woman hurriedly dragged him back to his seat.

“I said you can’t shake hands, didn’t I?”

Kim Ho-je kept his mouth shut and only looked down. I sat in front of Jang Won-taek and looked at him. His heartbeat and breathing were erratic. Maybe it was because his eyes were open when he took off his sunglasses, or maybe he was addicted to drugs.

The woman bowed her head towards me. “Sorry for our rudeness, my name is Lee Hyejin. I work as the President’s secretary.”

Secretary, huh? That’s a surprise. I quietly listened to the words of Jang Won-taek and Lee Hyejin. To summarize, it was like this: Kim Ho-je felt his life was threatened and wanted to entrust himself and his supplies to the Government Shelter.

“People with the unique skill of brainwashing always make enemies. I know that the Government Shelter is aware that there are many people who have shelters in the Hannam-dong area. Some of them don’t like the President.”

It could be said the thing Lee Hyejin had said was a natural thing to say due to Kim Ho-je’s unique skill. But I still felt a strange sense of incongruity.

Jang Won-taek glanced at me and continued the conversation. “So it sounds like you want to entrust your people and supplies to our shelter. However, there are concerns. People will never like people with brainwashing traits.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. If there’s a huge level difference, the unique skill won’t work properly. President will also be wearing gloves like this, and I will assist him by his side.”

“I’ll be sure to wear gloves!” Kim Ho-je made a promise using a child-like tone. This was new information again. If there’s a lot of level difference, brainwashing doesn’t work.

Jang Won-taek asked Kim Ho-je how many people he had brainwashed. “Th-three people.”

“A pity, you have turned people into your puppets. Will people let it go? It’s obvious that they aren’t going to turn a blind eye on the matter.”

Lee Hyejin hastily opened her mouth. “Victims of brainwashing will not enter the shelter.”

“Then?”

“I will arrange for them to live somewhere else. The President has also reflected a lot. If there is a way to solve the brainwashing later, we will actively cooperate.”

Kim Ho-Je looked at him with his head bowed. But it didn’t feel real to me.

When our reaction was not what she expected, Lee Hyejin said again.

“If his application is accepted, the President said that he would donate all the stockpiled materials to this shelter.”

“There are a lot of supplies in this shelter too… Do you perhaps have any heavy weapons?”

“We have quite a few Russian weapons. We imported it through an arms dealer.”

“I believed that at that time I had already passed the airport closure order…”

“I feel sorry to say this but it was brought here through a Russian fishing boat from the East Sea.”

Jang Won-taek smiled bitterly.

“Hoho, I see.”

“Hehe.”

It doesn’t mean it’s a good thing, but when you see him smiling innocently, it is clear that the guy named Kim Ho-Je has a few screws loose.

Jang Won-taek looked at me and blinked. He wants us to go out for a while. Once we were finally alone, he asked. “What do you think?”

“There is someone behind him.”

“I also felt that way, but… is there any evidence?”

I recalled old memories at that moment. To be precise, I recalled the piece of information I obtained when attacking Joo Seung-cheol’s bunker. In that piece of information, people who were called President Kim and Director were connected with Joo Seung-cheol.

“From what I know, President Kim’s unique ability was brainwashing. Director Lee seems to be referring to Lee Hyejin, right?”

“You have that kind of information… that’s amazing.” Jang Won-taek was genuinely admiring him. Anyway, it turned out that Jang Won-taek also didn’t trust their reasoning fully. Their purpose must be information that could only be known from inside the Government Shelter. Or maybe, they were trying to find out about me.

Now I have to choose. Do I pretend to be deceived and accept it, or…

“Let’s agree with them for now. I would like to see their reaction.”

“Let’s do that.” We returned to the conference room as soon as we wrapped our conversation.

I asked Director Lee, no, Lee Hyejin.

“I want to see how many supplies are there in your shelter, are you okay with that?”

“Yes?”

“Let’s go to your bunker together and check it out.”

“That, that…”

A flustered expression appeared on Lee Hyejin’s calm face. Jang Won-taek pushed forward without losing his momentum. “If this request is accepted, we will accept the requests of Ho-je-ssi and Hyejin-ssi.”

“That…”

She couldn’t answer straight away. Didn’t that mean there is something that needs to be approved first?

Kim Ho-je rejoiced like a child, happy that guests would come to his bunker. When he took off his sunglasses, his wide eyes were revealed. Lee Hyejin looked at him, but she could barely regain her calm before answering.

“I need some time to think.”

I don’t think it’s because she needs to think rather it was to get someone’s permission through the Auction House. The two of them left, and I opened the door slightly and focused my hearing. My extra senses were activated, and Lee Hyejin’s whisper instantly entered my ears.